The present invention relates to an ultrasound device for measuring tissue properties and in particular to an ultrasound system that measures the stress borne by tendons, ligaments, and muscle in vivo.
The ability to measure the stress that ligaments, tendons or muscle experience in vivo has considerable value in medical research and rehabilitative medicine. Prior techniques used in research settings are highly invasive and include insertion of a “buckle transducer” in series with the tissue or the threading of a fiber optic sensor through the tissue and detecting changes in light transmission associated with tension. Current noninvasive techniques are indirect, and require assumptions about relative loadings between different tissues to estimate internal tissue stress from external force measurements.